Alabama

Council Traditional student, 9, places third in NFL contest

View full size(Press-Register/G.M. Andrews)Avery Howell, 9, displays her punting form at Council Traditional School. The young football fan recently brought home third-place honors in the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick contest.

She didn’t request an abundance of Hannah Montana or “High School Musical” items for Christmas.

Instead, at the top of her list was a No. 24 football jersey honoring Dallas Cowboys running back Marion Barber.

The young football fan recently brought home third-place honors in the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick contest.

The competition, a project of the NFL’s Youth Sports Program, took place last month at the Louisiana Superdome. More than 3 million young people from around the country compete in the annual program, according to the NFL’s official Web site.

Avery got her gridiron start during the daily physical education classes at Council Traditional. She and four other students advanced to participate in the regional competition in Pensacola.

“The P.E. teacher incorporates this competition into their curriculum, which I thought was really neat,” said Avery’s mother, Dione Howell. “So everybody in the school basically tried out.”

Avery’s sport is soccer. She’s a member of the Mobile Soccer Club traveling team during the fall and spring.

“I like football, because during the season when I’m not playing soccer, I spend Saturdays with my mom watching college football and Sundays with my dad watching the NFL,” she said. “I’m going to play basketball this winter.”

Dione Howell, an Auburn University graduate, is more of a fan of the college game than the pros.

“I worked in the (Auburn) athletic department when Pat Dye was the head coach there,” Dione Howell said. “I don’t have a favorite NFL team. But I find myself pulling for anyone playing against the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys.

“And go figure, Avery and her brother, Austin, each wanted Cowboys jerseys for Christmas,” she said. “I couldn’t find any kids’ sizes for Marion Barber or Miles Austin.” She substituted Reggie Bush and Adrian Peterson jerseys.

After Avery won the Pensacola competition, her scores were compared to other sectional scores in the area, which included the Florida Panhandle, south Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

The Punt, Pass and Kick program was established in 1961 and is the oldest NFL Youth Football Program. It highlights the talents of girls and boys in four separate age divisions (8-9, 10-11, 12-13, and 14-15).They compete against each other in punting, passing and place kicking in a fun and engaging environment.

Avery had to contend with constant rain before the competition. “After I got the letter that I was going to New Orleans, it rained almost every day, making it hard to practice,” she said. “But it was still fun.”

The children were not allowed to approach the Saints or Cowboys players because it was their work day, “But I did get to meet Stephen Bowen and Deion Sanders,” Avery reported.

“It’s okay that I didn’t win,” she said, “because I told the officials that I would be back next year.”